Monday, Oct. 9, 2017

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MONDAY EDITION

ADDISON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

Vol. 29 No. 25

‘Sophisticated Ameriana’ • The Twangtown Paramours bring their hybrid NashvilleAustin sound to Brandon Music. Read Arts Beat, Page 10.

Local observes education abroad • A young man from Bristol had an eye-opening experience at a Guatemalan school. See his story on Page 20.

Middlebury, Vermont

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Childcare provision seen as inadequate

Offerings for youngest said to fall short By GAEN MURPHREE MIDDLEBURY — Child advocacy groups estimate that more than 79 percent of Vermont’s infants and toddlers likely to need child care don’t have access to programs considered to be high quality. For Addison County, the estimate is 88 percent for infants, 64 percent for toddlers. “We don’t have enough child

care and we don’t have child care that either parents can afford or that those people providing it can afford to do as a full-time career,” said Cheryl Mitchell, a co-founder of the Addison County Parent/Child Center and longtime child advocate. Closing the gap in terms of quality, access and affordability will take participation of employers, (See Childcare, Page 31)

Monday, October 9, 2017

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32 Pages

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Couple moving to stricken Puerto Rico urge aid to isle By ANDY KIRKALDY MIDDLEBURY — Soon-to-be Puerto Rican residents and current Middlebury residents Andy and Bronia Van Benthuysen have a message for their current friends and neighbors on behalf of their future neighbors: Please help. The Van Benthuysens, undeterred by the devastation Hurricane Maria unleashed on Puerto Rico in late September,

plan to retire to that U.S. territory in April. Before then Andy and Bronia will make weeklong November and January trips to the home they own on the Caribbean island, bringing with them needed supplies for Maria’s victims. In the meantime, the couple hopes that other Vermonters will join them in donating whatever they can to help an island that (See Couple, Page 14)

Tiger teams see weekend action

• MUHS boys’ soccer, football and field hockey teams all hosted games, including one vs. Mt. Abe. See Pages 16-18.

Immigrant artists leave their mark • A folklorist will talk about how new Vermonters, like this Bantu musician, make an impression. See Page 2.

A CURIOUS COW comes to say hello to dairy farmer Matt Baldwin, who stands holding son, Nathan. In mid-September, Baldwin purchased 218 acres of the Cota Farm in Monkton; land that has been preserved for agricultural use through the Vermont Land Trust.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

New hands take over on Monkton farm Land Trust keeps prime ag land in ag By GAEN MURPHREE MONKTON — Young Nathan Baldwin, all of three years old, races happily through the dairy barn on the farm formerly run by the Cota brothers, stopping to hug a few

weeks’ old heifers. They nudge back playfully. Outside the barn, some of dad Matt Baldwin’s mature Jerseys and Holsteins move through the grass, grazing peacefully. Looking south — past a small mountain of plasticwrapped haylage — green fields stretch toward the horizon, hugging Hogback Ridge to the east.

“To me it’s a great joy,” said 70-year-old Greg Cota. Just a few weeks ago, the last i’s were dotted and the last t’s were crossed in a conservation and sale agreement whereby the Vermont Land Trust purchased development rights on 218 acres of Greg and brother Robert Cota’s Monkton acreage, allowing Matt Baldwin to purchase the farm

for its agricultural value alone. “What I wanted is happening,” Cota continued. “I wanted to see cattle back in the pasture, cattle back in the barn. So it’s just a great joy to me to be able to go back and go in the barn, see cattle in there and smell that barn smell again like it used to be.” The Cota brothers have worked (See Baldwin, Page 32)


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